Short selling is a gamble. History has shown that, in general, stocks have an upward drift. Over the long run, most stocks appreciate in price. For that matter, even if a company barely improves over the years, inflation should drive its stock price up somewhat. What this means is that shorting is betting against the overall direction of the market.

So, if the direction is generally upward, keeping a short position open for a long period can become very risky.

Why is a split such a bad thing? You're not losing anything and shares outstanding are reduced. So many people on this MB constantly complain about too much dilution. This is the ticket. Who cares if they reverse split. I'm long and will be here no matter what. This is trivial.

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